Sony's eagerly awaited HD capable console the Playstation 3 launched stateside on Friday to the sound of Gunfire.
Thousands had camped outside in order to ensure they were one of the first to get their hands on the PS3. One unlucky man was shot in a attempted robbery outside a Walmart. Apparantly he refused to hand over money to two armed men.
Two other Walmart stores were forced to close due to problems caused by large crowds of gamers, some of whom had been there for several days.
Investors are closely watching sales of the PS3 as a key test of Sony's grip on the gaming industry, particularly as it faces rising competition from both Microsofts XBox 360 and the Nintendo Wii.
Sony anticipates 400,000 units to be available in the United States on Friday alone, one week after the initial launch in Japan. The aim is to make 1 million PS3s available in the United States by the end of the year.
Sony is expected to lose money at first on the highly specced PS3 . The machine not only offers HD gaming but can be used to surf the internet, download video and music and play movies in High Definition with its Blu-ray disc drive.
Experts say the PS3 could be around for the next decade and go a long way toward helping Sony stay at the top of the gaming market, while aiding their efforts to make Blu-ray the next-generation DVD standard.
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